Recovery ends up a modest affair

The FTSE 100 staged a modest recovery today, ending a three-day run of falling prices.

The blue-chip index ended the day up 63.76 points at 4232.97, which represented a 132-points fall over the week.

The market remains volatile amid a slew of bad corporate news and gloomy economic indicators, with unemployment rising rapidly and the prospect of further emergency cuts in interest rates to stimulate the flagging economy.

At one stage earlier in the day a bumper rally looked to be on the cards as the FTSE put on as much as 173 points, but the shine came off its recovery in the afternoon after Wall Street opened more than 200 points down on weak US retail data.

The gainers were led by hedge fund Man Group, which benefited from Investec analysts switching their recommendation on the stock from sell to buy. Man shares rose almost 8% or 16p to close at 224.5p.

Some retail stocks lost ground after John Lewis's weekly sales figures, seen as a bellwether for the sector, showed a 9.7% drop in the latest department store sales, the eighth weekly decline in a row.
Marks & Spencer lost 8.75p to 220p, while Next ended the day at 981p, a fall of 19p.

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland fell 1.6p to 51p following reports that it plans to cut 3,000 staff from its worldwide workforce.

BT added another 3.5p to 126p, following yesterday's results.

But Collins Stewart analyst Mark James issued a sell recommendation on the telecoms group's stock, setting a target of 110p.

"We feel BT's cash generation remains under pressure, with multiple headwinds in H2," he wrote in a note.

The stock is still below its 1984 flotation price of 130p, where it has been languishing since a profit warning two weeks ago.

Newspaper group Johnston Press continued its dreadful run, falling to a record low for a third day in succession.

The company's shares closed down by more than 20%, or 3.25p to just 12.75p, valuing the company at a paltry £82m.

The shares fell by more than 40% over a week in which it reported that property advertising had almost halved in the past four months.

Rival group Trinity Mirror, which is also suffering from the woeful state of the advertising market, added 1.5p to 35.5p today, as Panmure cut its target price from 40p to 35p.

The interdealer broker Tullett Prebon tumbled nearly 16%, or 26p, to 138p as it reported "high levels of volatility" in the second half of the year. However, the group said revenue in the four months from July to October was up 26% on last year.

The insurance business Novae surged 11% or 31.5p to 318p after reporting "confidence and optimism" in a trading update.

Analysts at UBS recommended buying the stock, maintaining a 400p price target.